Erebus – 30 years on

BY STEPHEN FORBES

It’s still hard for Fritz Zoll to talk about the Erebus disaster that killed his father Otto.

But the 45-year-old will never forget the day the Boeing DC-10 carrying his dad plummeted into the snow clad mountain.

And neither will the friends and relatives of the other 256 people aboard.

"The memories still linger today for the people who lost loved ones," he says.

Mr Zoll will be part of the large crowd expected to attend a 30th Anniversary Service at Waikumete Cemetery tomorrow.

"It will be for my children who never met their grandfather," he says "It’s something for them to learn and it’s a way to remember my father."

The New Lynn resident was due to accompany Otto on the ill-fated flight but couldn’t go because of pending school certificate exams.

But he did drive out to the airport with his mother to pick up his dad up on November 28, 1979.

The arrival and departure boards initially showed the flight was delayed.

Then people waiting for affected passengers were asked to congregate in a separate room where Air New Zealand told them the plane was missing.

"People just started screaming and crying," Mr Zoll says. "But it didn’t really sink in. I thought they might have crash landed.

"We went home and watched the TV and listened to the reports.

"We were in the dark like everyone else until they found the plane – it was a case of wait and see.

"When it was confirmed it really hit me that I had lost my father. It was a real time of mourning. My mother was devastated."

Mr Zoll says Air New Zealand chief executive Morrie Davis, who would later resign because of the tragedy, visited the family home to offer his condolences on behalf of the company.

Years of finger pointing, inquiries and court action have since tried to apportion blame and numerous questions remain unanswered.

Mr Zoll says a recent apology from the airline didn’t go far enough.

"They won’t admit their liability and it’s disappointing that’s there’s no sense of closure for the victims families."

Tomorrow’s service starts at 3.30pm at the memorial erected in 1981 over a mass grave containing the remains of around 60 victims.

Other Flight 901 passengers, including Otto Zoll, are buried elsewhere in the cemetery.

"Waitakere has an unbroken connection with this national tragedy," manager Daniel Sales says.

"We’ve taken pride in looking after the remains at the memorial and its surroundings and making it a place where people can come to reflect and hopefully find some peace in spite of their heartache.

"This service is a time to remember those lost loved ones."

- © Fairfax NZ News